Another condo tower announced as Surfside emerges as latest hot spot

The town of Surfside — a barrier island community with less than 6,000 residents, strategically located between Miami Beach and Sunny Isles Beach — is emerging as a hotbed of new condo development activity during this South Florida real estate cycle that began in 2011.

The newest condo project planned for Surfside — a municipality that stretches from 87th Street to 96th Street on the Miami-Dade County barrier island — is slated to feature a four-story building with 25 units — dubbed the 8800 Collins condo — on a nearly one-acre site in the 200 block of 88th Street, according to town records.

A Florida corporation — 8809 Harding Development LLC with managing member Salvador Di Lodovico — wants to construct the new project on a corner site where four rental buildings and the existing five-unit Townhomes Of Surfside condominium currently stand, across the street from the Surfside Tennis Center, according to government records.

In total, developers have now announced plans to build at least nine new condo buildings — including the 8800 Collins project — with more than 435 units in the town of Surfside during this cycle, according to the preconstruction condo projects website CraneSpotters.com. (For disclosure, my firm operates the website.)

To date, no new condo projects have been completed in Surfside, but more than 340 units are currently under construction. An additional 93 condo units — including the 8800 Collins project — are currently in the presale or planning stage of development.

On the Miami-Dade barrier island, developers have announced plans to build more than 100 new condo buildings with nearly 6,200 units during this cycle.

Sunny Isles Beach is the most active barrier island market with 20 new condo towers and nearly 2,650 units. Miami Beach ranks second based on 46 new condo buildings with nearly 1,950 units in the pipeline.

To the west of Surfside, developers have announced plans to build 26 new condo buildings with nearly 900 units in the town of Bay Harbor Islands.

North of Surfside, a 28-story condo tower with 240 units is currently under construction in the ultra-wealthy village of Bal Harbour.

Overall in South Florida, developers have announced plans to develop 392 new condo towers with more than 47,000 units east of I-95 in the tri-county South Florida region of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach as of Monday, according to the data.

Developers have completed 48 new condo buildings with more than 3,715 units — nearly 8 percent of the tri-county total — east of I-95 in South Florida during this cycle.

An additional 122 new condo buildings with more than 12,325 units — about 26 percent of the tri-county total — are currently under construction in South Florida, according to the data.

An additional 222 new condo buildings with nearly 31,000 units — nearly 66 percent of the South Florida preconstruction total — are currently in the planning or presale phase of development.

In the Surfside resale condo market, less than five dozen units are currently available for purchase at an average asking price of more than $635 per square foot as of Monday, according to data from the Southeast Florida MLXchange.

In the first 10 months of 2015, buyers acquired 61 units at an average price of about $431 per square foot. A year earlier, buyers acquired 80 condo units at an average price of less than $400 per square foot between the same January and October period of 2014, according to the data.

Based on the 2015 resale pace, Surfside has about a nine month supply of resale condo units available for purchase.

A balanced market is considered to have about six months of supply. More months of unit supply indicates a buyer’s market, and less units suggests a seller’s market.

Industry watchers contend the slowing resale market in Surfside is a result of increased competition from preconstruction projects slated to be developed on the barrier island during this cycle.

The unanswered question going forward is whether the Surfside condo development boom can continue at the current pace given the amount of preconstruction units already announced — and said to be coming — for the barrier island, at a time of weakening foreign currencies and rising real estate prices.

Peter Zalewski is a real estate columnist for The Real Deal who founded Condo Vultures LLC, a consultancy and publishing company, as well as Condo Vultures Realty LLC and CVR Realty brokerages and the Condo Ratings Agency, an analytics firm. The Condo Ratings Agency operates CraneSpotters.com, a preconstruction condo projects website, in conjunction with the Miami Association of Realtors.